Tiscali - any good....as a supplier to a corporate

Tiscali - any good....as a supplier to a corporate

Author
Discussion

luca brazzi

Original Poster:

3,975 posts

265 months

Monday 26th May 2003
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Researching Tiscali as part of my new jobbie, to be the company's service provider.

Does anyone know much about them, good or bad. Either post on here or email my profile. Any info very gratefully received.

PS as far as research goes, I used to use Gartner research...and hope to again....are there any others worth looking at??

Ta
LB

Hates_

778 posts

253 months

Monday 26th May 2003
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STAY AWAY FROM TISCALI!!!!!!!

I am a home broadband user and although great, when things go wrong they seriously go wrong. A large number of people (me included) around the country have been having serious problems with their ADSL for the past month and Tiscali are absolutly appaling at firstly recognising there is a problem and seconly doing something about it. This has been the case 3 times over the past 8 months.

Their customer service is a complete joke and is notorious for being one of the worst in the country. They make promise after promise, and then proceed to break every single one. After months of following people's expolits on the forums I don't think I've ever heard of someone having something resolved when promised.

Nildram is very highly regarded, and even when I phoned just for information they were 1000% better then Tiscali's support. If switching over was quick and easy I would move to Nildram straight away, but as Tiscali choose to ignore BT's requests to free the line so disgruntled users can migrate to other providers it sadly wont be happening for me.

An example of their poor ADSL support:

1) Hold for 40 mins
2) Greeted by woman who couldn't find my account
3) Didn't seem to understand a word of English
4) When told my connection is being slow, proceeded to ask me if I had plugged in switched my computer on (WTF?!?)
5) Told me to attempt to post my problems on the Tiscali forums under the "Events" section which is for gigs and concerts.
6) When asked if she's sure thats what I should do and why she can't give me more information promptly hangs up on me.

>> Edited by Hates_ on Monday 26th May 23:56

RUF 3

240 posts

267 months

Tuesday 27th May 2003
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I trade the Stock Market daily, from home. It is imperative to have a 100% reliable connection, which operates at a decent speed. I have tried many, with BT being the worst, and finally got sorted out. I have used pipex dial for six months now, and they have never caused a problem. They are not cheap but the connection is as you would expect. They offer loads of different packages(including a single user uncontended port to their server). I suggest you have a look on their website.

arcturus

1,489 posts

263 months

Tuesday 27th May 2003
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My advice, which I give to all my clients, is generally to stay away from the 'domestic' providers (Tiscali, Freeserve, AOL etc) for business internet access and go with a provider who gears their services towards business (Pipex, Demon etc).

Yes this may cost more, but in general I have found the services and backup provided are much better.

Of course, if the internet is not a critical part of your business activity then a freebie account on a 'domestic' provider may be fine, but if it is critical and you want your ISP to be accountable to you, then I would strongly suggest going with a business ISP. Another consideration is the length of time you will be online. A lot of domestic providers have a 2 hour cutoff and also a limit on the number of hours you can be online each month, something your business provider should not have.

Also, will you be using standard dial-up or ADSL or some other form of connection. Again this will affect who you choose.

Personally, my business has used Demon for the past 3 years with very few problems. Their accounts start at about £11.99/month if I remember rightly.

Dave Clarke
www.arctsys.co.uk

dans

1,137 posts

284 months

Tuesday 27th May 2003
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Steve

Let me know if I can help with advice on this. AFAIK I have not heard much either way on Tiscali as a corporate supplier. The thing is that they are really a consumer outfit who have bought the remains of a number of other companies to add to their portfolio. I can't think of a clearly negative reason for saying that there is anything wrong with them, just that while they will do what is required, it can be better to use a dedicated supplier, not least because the industry is flaky and tiscali generate the majority of their revenues from consumer. That means however good their service is they are vulnerable to a consumer market.

Long and short is I am sure they will be fine, but why does the client want to use them rather than a focussed corporate supplier?

cheers
Dan

joust

14,622 posts

259 months

Tuesday 27th May 2003
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You have mail!

J

FourWheelDrift

88,486 posts

284 months

Tuesday 27th May 2003
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RUF 3 said: I trade the Stock Market daily, from home. It is imperative to have a 100% reliable connection, which operates at a decent speed. I have tried many, with BT being the worst, and finally got sorted out. I have used pipex dial for six months now, and they have never caused a problem. They are not cheap but the connection is as you would expect. They offer loads of different packages(including a single user uncontended port to their server). I suggest you have a look on their website.


Hi David.

Which online service do you use to trade?

Deester

1,607 posts

260 months

Wednesday 4th June 2003
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As the ex Web Development Director for Tiscali Europe I would say avoid them like the plague.

Hates_

778 posts

253 months

Wednesday 4th June 2003
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Deester said: As the ex Web Development Director for Tiscali Europe I would say avoid them like the plague.
Straight from the horses mouth! j/k!

luca brazzi

Original Poster:

3,975 posts

265 months

Wednesday 4th June 2003
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Deester YHM.

RUF 3

240 posts

267 months

Wednesday 4th June 2003
quotequote all



Hi David.

Which online service do you use to trade?

Sorry to take so long to reply - I trade through Deal4Free Spreadbet.